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A review by jayecard
Desa Kincaid: Bounty Hunter by R.S. Penney, Gregg Chambers
4.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
4* is a pretty generous rating here for my standards, but my standards are pretty prickly, so don't read too much into that. Instead, read into my review!
When I got the offer to review Desa Kincaid: Bounty Hunter, I had no idea what to expect, but a fantasy western with a kickass female lead sounded pretty cool to me. So I dived in, and was surprised how much I was enjoying myself!
Desa Kincaid: Bounty Hunter is about the titular Desa Kincaid, a lesbian bounty hunter with magic powers (I know some of you stopped reading the review here and went to buy it, and I can't blame you for it either). Those powers are also known as Field Binding: She can give objects the power to absorb or release different types of energy - heat, kinetic energy, light, etc. - at will. Those powers are a pretty exclusive deal to her home, but she's went out into the wild west to chase a man who did some pretty horrid experiments and will hurt more people if he isn't stopped.
This is pretty basic as far as fantasy western goes (though I suppose the genre itself is niche enough), but the book did its own spin on the thing. I really liked field binding as a magic system, and how it was utilized. The rules were quickly established, and all the time, different and creative ways to use field binding popped up. This type of exploring magic systems is something I've been missing in quite a lot of other fantasy books I've read, even those that like to boast about their intricate magic systems, so seeing someone put the magic into action was real refreshing.
Now that that's said, I'm gonna get to the point you're probably actually interested in: Yeah, this book has a solid amount of queer characters. Somehow, people always seem concerned whether it will seem "unnatural" to have so many queer characters in one place, but this book proves them nonsense. Desa is a strict lesbian, and her student Tommy is queer. I liked them both as characters, but my absolute favourite character in the book was actually Miri - she's a bit unconventional for a female character, and I really wished I got to read more characters like her. Overall, the characterisation was good, buuuut....
Here comes my big but. The character WRITING wasn't always as crisp. Not because there was something wrong with the characters, but the character voice. There was a fair share of over explaining characters and their motives, and it got a bit annoying. Yeah, I get it, Desa doesn't trust Miri. I don't need to be reminded constantly. It wasn't a terrible problem, but it did bother me, and it made for a major flaw in the otherwise wonderful style.
The rest of the prose was very enjoyable. The descriptions are vivid, I could picture the people and the landscapes, I felt the weather, and I had an easy time imagining what using magic is like. I'm usually more of a classic fantasy reader, so the western setting was a cool fresh pick for me, and the genre blent really well together - I almost forgot western doesn't usually have magic.
There's not much else I have here to talk about - there was a twist that felt a bit too out of nowhere but was overall ok (and maybe I just missed the hints), there were some good jokes and funny moments, and I really liked how a certain later villain was described. Overall, I'd say it's a fun and super enjoyable read if you're looking for something with a kickass lesbian at the center, or like fantasy and are interested in a western style setting.
4* is a pretty generous rating here for my standards, but my standards are pretty prickly, so don't read too much into that. Instead, read into my review!
When I got the offer to review Desa Kincaid: Bounty Hunter, I had no idea what to expect, but a fantasy western with a kickass female lead sounded pretty cool to me. So I dived in, and was surprised how much I was enjoying myself!
Desa Kincaid: Bounty Hunter is about the titular Desa Kincaid, a lesbian bounty hunter with magic powers (I know some of you stopped reading the review here and went to buy it, and I can't blame you for it either). Those powers are also known as Field Binding: She can give objects the power to absorb or release different types of energy - heat, kinetic energy, light, etc. - at will. Those powers are a pretty exclusive deal to her home, but she's went out into the wild west to chase a man who did some pretty horrid experiments and will hurt more people if he isn't stopped.
This is pretty basic as far as fantasy western goes (though I suppose the genre itself is niche enough), but the book did its own spin on the thing. I really liked field binding as a magic system, and how it was utilized. The rules were quickly established, and all the time, different and creative ways to use field binding popped up. This type of exploring magic systems is something I've been missing in quite a lot of other fantasy books I've read, even those that like to boast about their intricate magic systems, so seeing someone put the magic into action was real refreshing.
Now that that's said, I'm gonna get to the point you're probably actually interested in: Yeah, this book has a solid amount of queer characters. Somehow, people always seem concerned whether it will seem "unnatural" to have so many queer characters in one place, but this book proves them nonsense. Desa is a strict lesbian, and her student Tommy is queer. I liked them both as characters, but my absolute favourite character in the book was actually Miri - she's a bit unconventional for a female character, and I really wished I got to read more characters like her. Overall, the characterisation was good, buuuut....
Here comes my big but. The character WRITING wasn't always as crisp. Not because there was something wrong with the characters, but the character voice. There was a fair share of over explaining characters and their motives, and it got a bit annoying. Yeah, I get it, Desa doesn't trust Miri. I don't need to be reminded constantly. It wasn't a terrible problem, but it did bother me, and it made for a major flaw in the otherwise wonderful style.
The rest of the prose was very enjoyable. The descriptions are vivid, I could picture the people and the landscapes, I felt the weather, and I had an easy time imagining what using magic is like. I'm usually more of a classic fantasy reader, so the western setting was a cool fresh pick for me, and the genre blent really well together - I almost forgot western doesn't usually have magic.
There's not much else I have here to talk about - there was a twist that felt a bit too out of nowhere but was overall ok (and maybe I just missed the hints), there were some good jokes and funny moments, and I really liked how a certain later villain was described. Overall, I'd say it's a fun and super enjoyable read if you're looking for something with a kickass lesbian at the center, or like fantasy and are interested in a western style setting.